Speech and Spoken Language: You Can't Have One Without the Other (HOPE)

Ashley Garber, MS, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert AVT

owns Listening and Language Connections, LLC,

Ashley S. Garber, MS CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert AVT owns Listening and Language Connections, LLC, a private practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan dedicated to Auditory Verbal Therapy and family-centered aural habilitation services for children and adults with hearing impairment. She has over 12 years of experience in the field with time as a parent -infant therapist at the Bill Wilkerson Center in Nashville Tennessee and as a private therapist and in-class aide for a child with a cochlear implant in Valencia, Venezuela. She spent 4 years as the speech language pathologist at the University of Michigan Cochlear Implant Program specializing in assessment and habilitation services for the center’s pediatric recipients. She had been a consultant to the Cochlear Americas' HOPE program since 2004.

Mary Ellen Nevins, EdD

experienced teacher of children who are deaf and hard of hearing

Mary Ellen Nevins, Ed.D. is an experienced teacher of children who are deaf and hard of hearing as well as a veteran teacher educator.  Nevins entered the field of implantation in 1987, when she joined the team at Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital as an educational consultant while at the same time coordinating the teacher preparation program at Kean University in New Jersey.  She has a national reputation as an expert on the educational issues facing children with cochlear implants and speaks and writes widely on this topic.  Now in private practice as a Professional Development Specialist, Nevins is poised to publish her third book with co-author Pat Chute entitled School-Based Professionals Working with Children with Cochlear Implants in the spring of 06.  She teamed with her colleague, Ashley S. Garber, CCC-SLP to develop and implement educational programs for Cochlear Americas. She provides consultant services to the HOPE program as it continues to address the varied needs of school personnel.

Lilian Flores-Beltran, PhD, LSLS Cert, AVT

Lilian Flores-Beltran, Ph.D., LSLS Cert. AVT®, has a master’s degree in technological education, a bachelor’s degree in special education with specialties in cognition and language, and a doctorate degree in Pedagogy. She has also worked with the John Tracy Clinic to plan and coordinate a parent training course in 15 countries in Latin America and Spain, which has been attended by more than 6,000 parents. She is author of four books and a Multimedia CD, all related in rehabilitation of deaf children. Flores-Beltran got the 2005 Professional of the Year recognition by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She is also a Global Ambassador of the same Association. Lilian has been working with deaf children and adults since 1980.